Dear Parents, Teachers and Friends,

FLEXIBLE LITERACY PROJECT

This year, the teachers at St Mary’s have been developing a teaching methodology based on Explicit Direct

Instruction. This approach to teaching is supported by current research and data that identifies those elements

of a good lesson that improve student learning. It is based on a book by researchers John Hollingsworth and

Sylvia Ybara titled, ‘Explicit Direct Instruction, The Power of the Well-Crafted, Well-Taught Lesson’.

Coincidentally, next year the Federal Government is launching a project called the ‘Flexible Literacy Project’,

based on the work and pedagogy espoused by Hollingsworth and Ybarra and their book. As part of the

project, the authors will be coming to Perth and instructing teachers on Explicit Direct Instruction and

developing in-school coaches who will be supporting teachers delivering lessons based on the research

underpinning this approach.

St Mary’s will be a part of this project, and as such all primary teachers will be travelling to Perth for

instruction on the 28th, 29th and 30th of January prior to school starting next year. Coaches will be supporting

teachers throughout the next three years deliver well-crafted, well-taught lessons. All literacy lessons have

been developed from Pre-primary to Year 6 based on the Australian Curriculum. It is pleasing to note that all

materials required for this project and travel for staff, accommodation etc. are being met by the Federal

Government. As a staff we are excited to be a part of this initiative and expect to see significant gains in

literacy, and in fact all learning areas, in the coming years. The project has a 3 year timeline.

PARENT/CHILD RECONCILIATION EVENING

All students receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation and their parents are required to attend the Parent/Child

Reconciliation evening tomorrow night beginning at 6:00 pm in the school hall.

PUPIL FREE STAFF DEVELOPMENT DAY

There is a staff professional development day Monday 17th November, and as such, this is a pupil free day.

God Bless

Mr Steve O’Halloran

Principal

School Newsletter 12th November 2014 Term 4, Issue 5

St M

ary Star of the Sea

C

ARNARVO

NTo Jesus through Mary

St Mary Star of the Sea School Board

Fr Adam Babinski Ex-Officio Karen Gilbert Treasurer

Steve O’Halloran Ex-Officio Di Ramirez Secretary

Paul Mullane Chairperson Andrew Alston Vice Chair

Max March Member John Nuttall P&F Rep

Parish Rep

F r o m T h e p r i n c i p a l ’ s d e s k

3 Three Year Old Kindy Little Stars

Program

FOR 2015 SCHOOL YEAR

ENROLMENT FORMS ARE AVAILABLE AT THE SCHOOL

OFFICE OR ON OUR WEBSITE WWW.SMSC.WA.EDU.AU.

KINDERGARTEN AND PRE-PRIMARY STUDENTS FOR 2015 Enrolments are now open

If your child was born between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011 Kindergarten 2015

If your child was born between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010 Pre Primary 2015

Enrolment forms can be found on our website www.smsc.wa.edu.au or contact our school

office for more information on 99411 328.

Reminder

If your son or daughter is going to be

away from school for an extended period

of time, you are required to write to the

Principal explaining the situation.

Attendance If your child is going to be absent from school, please advise

the front office before 9am on the day.

If you receive an SMS message to advise your child has been

marked absent in class, please reply immediately to the school

by either phone, skool bag app or by email with reason why

your child is absent.

If you have informed the school by phone or in person, a note

detailing the absence is to be sent to the school office when

your child returns.

To help us with our planning for 2015

please inform the front office if your

child/children will not be returning to

St Marys next year.

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER

13th November Reconciliation Meeting Parent/Child 6pm

15th November P&F Quiz Night

17th November PUPIL FREE DAY

20th November Reconciliation Yr 3 6.00pm

21st November Founders Day Mass

Milo T20 Blast Cricket Cup Yrs 5 –Yr 7

24th—26th November Middle School Exams

4th December Awards Assembly

9th December Presentation Night

12th December Last Day of School

2nd February 2015 First Day of School

Middle School News With exams fast approaching in Week 7, I would like to encourage parents to reinforce good studying

habits with their children. This includes utilising the revision guides that all core learning area teachers

have provided, along with adequate sleep, nutrition, hydration and quiet study space. Organising notes for

study is also a good strategy so that last minute cramming and stressing can be avoided. If you have any

queries or concerns regarding the upcoming examinations, please make contact with your child’s teacher

or myself soon so that we can work together to maximise opportunities and outcomes.

After the examination period, we will be entering into a Transition phase for Year 6 and 7 students new to

our Middle School. This will include the current Year 6 class at St Mary’s plus other students entering St

Mary’s in Year 7 and/or Year 8 for the first time in 2015. The program occurs over two days and it’s a

very busy but exciting time for all concerned. A slight change to the schedule will include all the Middle

School students joining the Year 6 and 7 students going to the Aquatic Centre on Friday 28 November for

a Good Standing afternoon activity. Students without Good Standing will be staying back at school on an

alternative activity. Please watch out for the permission letters going out later this week and please note

that Good Standing includes being up to date with all school work, not just the attainment of Good

Standing stamps.

The Year 10s are busy planning their retreat to Gnaraloo in Week 8 where they will participate in

conservation work with the turtles. It promises to be a fitting end to all their hard efforts throughout the

year in their Leadership course. It will also be a good lead-in to their Graduation preparations occurring in

Week 9.

I hope to see as many of the school community at the P&F Quiz night this weekend before Advent begins

and the rush of Christmas is upon us. There is still so much occurring within the school calendar but I

really must stress that it is the ‘business’ end of things and for many students leaving us to go on to other

schools, their upcoming exam results and final grades may decide their ability to enter into specific

courses. It is therefore VITAL that learning is still uppermost in everyone’s mind as we will be reporting

up until the last week of school.

I would like to extend my thanks to Mrs Daryl Weatherdon for organising our Remembrance Day

ceremony for the whole school yesterday. Also to Mr Brooks who helped with the display. The students

displayed reverence and reflected well upon this important date in our history.

In closing, I would like to send a message out to all our students through this article that I came upon

during my research on effective leaders recently. Michael Michalko writes about famous failures

throughout history like Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, JK Rowling, Bill Gates, Vincent Van Gogh and

Michael Jordan – if this can help just one child in overcoming their perceptions on failure then we are on

the right step to challenging a risk-averse culture that is so prominent in today’s society. I have attached

the article in its entirety here for you. About the author: Michael Michalko is one of the most highly

acclaimed creativity experts in the world and author of the best sellers Thinkertoys (A Handbook of

Business Creativity), ThinkPak (A Brainstorming Card Deck), and Cracking Creativity (The Secrets of

Creative Genius). As an officer in the United States Army, Michael organized a team of NATO

intelligence specialists and international academics in Frankfurt, Germany, to research, collect, and

categorize all known inventive-thinking methods. His international team applied those methods to various

NATO

military, political, and social problems and in doing so it produced a variety of breakthrough ideas and

creative solutions to new and old problems. After leaving the military, Michael facilitated CIA think tanks

using his creative thinking techniques. Michael later applied these creative-thinking techniques to

problems in the corporate world with outstanding successes. Enjoy …

Kind regards

Sam Da LuzSam Da LuzSam Da LuzSam Da Luz Head of Middle School

Famous Failures By Michael Michalko | May 11, 2012

Synopsis You have to learn how to fail in order to succeed. Here are some famous failures from history.

When people speak of a “fear of failure,” they are really describing a hazy free-floating malaise

and feeling of worry or discontent which induces lethargy and explains lack of effort. This

malaise protects us from the anxiety that comes with freedom and taking risks. We tranquilize

our lives by limiting the amount of anxiety that we experience by not trying anything new or

different that might fail.

Whenever we attempt to do something and fail, we end up doing something else or producing something else. You have not failed; you have produced some other result. The two most

important questions to ask are: “What have I learned?” and “What have I done?”

Failure is only a word that human beings use to judge a given situation. Instead of fearing

failure, we should learn that failures, mistakes and errors are the way we learn and the way we

grow. Many of the world’s greatest successes have learned how to fail their way to success.

Some of the more famous are:

Albert Einstein: Most of us take Einstein's name as synonymous with genius, but he didn't

always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he was four and did not read until he

was seven, causing his teachers and parents to think he was mentally handicapped, slow and

anti-social. Eventually, he was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich

Polytechnic School. He attended a trade school for one year and was finally admitted to the

University. He was the only one of his graduating class unable to get a teaching position

because no professor would recommend him. One professor labeled him as the laziest dog they

ever had in the university. The only job he was able to get was an entry-level position in a

government patent office.

• Robert Goddard: Goddard today is hailed for his research and experimentation with

liquid-fueled rockets, but during his lifetime his ideas were often rejected and mocked by his

scientific peers who thought they were outrageous and impossible. The New York Times once

reported that Goddard seemed to lack a high school student’s basic understanding of rocketry.

Today rockets and space travel don't seem far-fetched at all, due largely in part to the work of

this scientist who worked against the feelings of the time.

• Abraham Lincoln: While today he is remembered as one of the greatest leaders of our nation,

Lincoln's life wasn't so easy. In his youth he went to war a captain and returned a private (if

you're not familiar with military ranks, just know that private is as low as it goes.) Lincoln didn't

stop failing there, however. He started numerous failed businesses, went bankrupt twice and

was defeated in 26 campaigns he made for public office.

• J. K. Rowling: Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but before she

published the series of novels, she was nearly penniless, severely depressed, divorced, trying

to raise a child on her own while attending school and writing a novel. Rowling went from

depending on welfare to survive to being one of the richest women in the world in a span of only

five years through her hard work and determination.

• Walt Disney: Today Disney rakes in billions from merchandise, movies and theme parks

around the world, but Walt Disney had many personal failures. He was fired by a newspaper

editor because, "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." After that, Disney started a

number of businesses that didn't last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure. He kept

trying and learning, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that worked.

• Harland David Sanders: Perhaps better known as Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried

Chicken fame, Sanders had a hard time selling his chicken at first. In fact, his famous secret

chicken recipe was rejected 1,009 times before a restaurant accepted it. He learned not to fear

rejection and persevered.

• Thomas Edison: In his early years, teachers told Edison he was "too stupid to learn anything."

Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough.

Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. One

day, an assistant asked him why he didn’t give up. After all, he failed over a thousand times.

Edison replied that he had not failed once. He had discovered over 1000 things that don’t work.

• Ludwig van Beethoven: In his formative years, young Beethoven was incredibly awkward on

the violin and was often so busy working on his own compositions that he neglected to practice.

Despite his love of composing, his teachers felt he was hopeless at it and would never succeed

with the violin or in composing. In fact, his music teacher told his parents he was too stupid to

be a music composer.

• Michael Jordan: Most people wouldn't believe that a man often lauded as the best basketball

player of all time was actually cut from his high school basketball team. Luckily, Jordan didn't let

this setback stop him from playing the game and he has stated, "I have missed more than 9,000

shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to

take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life.

And that is why I succeed."

• Stephen King: The first book by this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30 rejections,

finally causing King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife fished it out and encouraged

him to resubmit it, and the rest is history, with King now having hundreds of books published

and the distinction of being one of the best-selling authors of all time.

• Bill Gates: Gates didn't seem destined for success after dropping out of Harvard. He started a

business with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While this early idea for a

business failed miserably, Gates did not despair and give up. Instead he learned much from the

failure and later created the global empire that is Microsoft.

• Henry Ford: While Ford is today known for his innovative assembly line and American-made

cars, he wasn't an instant success. In fact, his early businesses failed and left him broke five

times. He was advised by countless people not to get into the manufacturing of automobiles

because he had neither the capital or know how.

• F. W. Woolworth: Some may not know this name today, but Woolworth was once one of the

biggest names in department stores in the U.S. Before starting his own business, young

Woolworth worked at a dry goods store and was not allowed to wait on customers because his

boss said he lacked the sense needed to do so. Woolworth also had many ideas of how to

market dry goods - all of which were rejected by his boss. His marketing ideas became the

foundation of his phenomenal retail success with his own stores.

• Akio Morita: You may not have heard of Morita but you've undoubtedly heard of his company,

Sony. Sony's first product was a rice cooker that unfortunately didn't cook rice so much as burn

it, selling less than 100 units. The rice cooker was the object of scorn and laughter by the

business community. This did not discourage Morita and his partners as they pushed forward to

create a multi-billion dollar company.

• Orville and Wilbur Wright: These brothers battled depression and family illness before

starting the bicycle shop that would lead them to experimenting with flight. They were competing

against the best engineering and scientific minds in America at the time, who were all well

financed and supported by the government and capital investors to make the first airplane. After

numerous attempts at creating flying machines, several years of hard work, and tons of failed

prototypes, the brothers finally created a plane that could get airborne and stay there.

• Vincent Van Gogh: During his lifetime, Van Gogh sold only one painting, and this was to a

friend and only for a very small amount of money. While Van Gogh was never a success during

his life, he plugged on with painting, sometimes starving to complete his over 800 known works.

Today, they bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each.

• Fred Astaire: In his first screen test, the testing director of MGM noted that Astaire "Can't act.

Can't sing. Slightly bald. Not handsome. Can dance a little." Astaire went on to become an

Incredibly successful actor, singer and dancer and kept that note in his Beverly Hills home to

remind him of where he came from.

• Steven Spielberg: While today Spielberg's name is synonymous with big budget, he was

rejected from the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television three

times. He eventually attended school at another location, only to drop out to become a director

before finishing. Thirty-five years after starting his degree, Spielberg returned to school in 2002

to finally complete his work and earn his BA.

• Charles Darwin was chastised by his father for being lazy and too dreamy. Darwin himself

once wrote that his father and teachers considered him rather below the common standard of

intellect. When Charles Darwin first presented his research on evolution, it was met with little .

enthusiasm. He continued to work on his theory of evolution when all of his colleagues called

him a fool and what he was doing “a fool’s experiment.”

The artist genius of the ages is Michelangelo. His competitor’s once tried to set him up for fail-

ure or force him to forgo a commission because of the possibility of failure. Michelangelo's com-

petitors persuaded Junius II to assign to him a relatively obscure and difficult project. It was to

fresco the ceiling of a private chapel. The chapel had already been copiously decorated with

frescoes by many talented artists. Michelangelo would be commissioned to decorate the tunnel-

vaulted ceiling. In this way, his rivals thought they would divert his energies from sculpture, in

which they realized he was supreme.

The Magical Christmas Jigsaw Musical We are very excited about the Christmas musical taking place in week 9. We are in

need of a few props in order to put together a fantastic performance. We would like to borrow the props for the technical rehearsal and the performance on Tues-

day. We are looking for...

• Christmas decorations: Tinsel, baubles, stars, nativity figures, old-style toys,

Christmas pudding packages, fairy lights etc. These are used in the Christmas markets scene.

• Roman/Greek accessories: Jars, baskets, pottery etc.

• Hay bales

• Shepherd's staff

• Pot plants - specifically small sized palms.

If you are able to help us out with any of these items, please call or leave a

message at the school office on 99411 328.

Thank you Miss Katrina Ward

This, they argued, would make things hopeless for him, since he had no experience in fresco,

he would certainly, they believed, do amateurish work as a painter. Without doubt, they thought,

he would be compared unfavorably with Raphael, and even if the work were a success, being

forced to do it would make him angry with the Pope, and thus one way or another they would

succeed in their purpose of getting rid of him.

Michelangelo, protesting that painting was not his art, still took on the project. In every way it

was a challenging task. He had never used color, nor had he painted in fresco. He executed the

frescos in great discomfort, having to work with his face looking upwards, which impaired his

sight so badly that he could not read or look at drawings save with his head turned backwards,

and this lasted for several months. In that awkward curved space, Michelangelo managed to

depict the history of the Earth from the Creation to Noah, surrounded by ancestors and prophets

of Jesus and finally revealing the liberation of the soul. His enemies had stage managed the

masterpiece that quickly established him as the artist genius of the age. - See more at: http://www.creativitypost.com/psychology/famous_failures#sthash.7w3PenQv.dpuf

School Banking award winners. Congratulations